Helicopter crashes at Long Island MacArthur Airport
A small helicopter with two men onboard crashed Wednesday night, Aug. 19, 2015 at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, officials said. Credit: NEWS12
A small helicopter with two men onboard crashed Wednesday night at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, officials said.
The pilot -- a flying instructor -- and student passenger had "no external injuries," but were taken to a hospital to be examined, said Robert Schaefer, the Town of Islip's airport commissioner.
"They were speaking. They were pretty calm," Schaefer said, describing both men as being in their 30s. Their names were not immediately available. Schaefer also said he could not immediately provide the name of the flight school or say whether the helicopter was based at the airport.
The accident occurred about 7:30 p.m. in a grassy "safe zone" about 150 feet away from two runways while the pilot was teaching his student how to hover in the R-22 helicopter, Schaefer said. Because of the distance from the runways, no flights were impacted, he said.
"They were hovering a foot or two off the ground, he overcompensated and it went on its side," said Schaefer.
The airport has notified the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board and both will investigate, Schaefer said.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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